Improvement in compositions for stiffening and dressing straw hats



NI'IED STATES PATENT- OFFICE EUGENE TORLOTI N, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

IMPROVEMENT m COMPOSITIONS FOR STIFFENING AND DRESSING STRAW. HATS.

, Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 169,063, dated October 19, 1875; application filed September 14, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EUGENE TORLOTIN, of Paris, France, have invented a certain new and useful composition of matter, which I call Parementine for Stit'fening and Dressing Cloths, Straw Hats, &c., of which the following is a specification:

The composition which I have invented is intended for the sizing of thread, and finishing and dressing of cloths, and finishing of straw hats.

To make thiscomposition I proceed as follows: I take one hundred kilograms of gelatine size, which I dissolve in as little water as possible. When the solution is complete I add to it a dressing composed as follows: Dextrine, seventy kilograms; glycerine, twenty kilograms; sulphate of magnesia, twenty kilograms; sulphate of zinc, twenty kilograms.

These materials are stirred together until they are intimately mixed and form a thick paste, which has the appearance of sirup. The compound is then put in molds, and then allowed to cool. When it has taken the con sistency of caoutchouc I remove it from the molds, and obtain blocks or cakes, which are allowed to dry until there is complete evaporation of the water used for purpose of dissolving.

This product, put in boxes, is delivered to the consumer for the sizing of thread and the dressing and finishing of all kinds of cloth.

It may be used as follows:

1. The sizing of woolen thread, (in the manufactnre of merinos.)-Hitherto weavers have sized warps with a solution of from twenty to twenty-five per cent. of gelatine size in eighty kilograms of water; but if we dissolve thirty kilogramsof parementine in seventy kilograms of water we obtain a perfect dressing, which is also much cheaper, and the thread has much more pliability.

2. Sizing of linen and cotton thread-This is usually done with starch, to which is added either suet or tallow, with sulphate of zinc, or virgin wax or glue. In order to obtain a perfect dressing it suffices to add to the starch one-fifth its weight of parementine. The

thread is thereby rendered better and more elastic to a degree that renders it practicable to weave an entire piece without a broken thread.

3. Finishing of wool and wool-and-cotton cloths-These goods are ordinarily finished with size. The size offers the grave inconvenience of dulling the tints and of generating mites. With parementine nothing of the kind takes place. The freshest and most delicate tints are not affected, while the blue tints are even intensified, and the parementine contains salts and antiseptics, which prevent the formation of mites.

4. Finishing of cotton cloths-These cloths are finished with starch or starchy matters, to the solution of which is added either glue or lichen, 8m. We obtain a perfect dressing by adding to the starch a sufficient quantity of parementine, and dispensing with the other ingredients.

5. Finishing of straw hats.'These are finished, usually, with a high grade of gelatine. I obtain a better and handsomer finish by replacing, in the formula above given, the twenty kilograms of sulphate of magnesia and the twenty kilograms of sulphate of zinc by ten kilograms only of oxalate of potash.

The solution of parementine thus made is completely white, and can be successively used in finishing the most difficult straw, such as rice and Italian straws, so called. This dressing has, besides, the advantage of imparting much pliability, and of producing that kind of finish known as English finish.

I would observe, in conclusion, that, without changing in any way the properties of my product, the dextrine can be replaced by any mucilage. In like manner, sulphate of magnesia can be replaced by sulphate of soda, hyposulphite of soda, bisulphate of potash, or sulphate of ammonia. For straw hats the oxalate of potash can be replaced by oxalate of ammonia, or even by oxalic acid, pure and simple. The sulphate of zinc can be replaced by sulphate of alumina, alum, or chloride of zinc. These, however, are mere modifications, which can be availed of without departure from the principle of my invention.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Lettet's Patent, is-

The described new groduct or composition of matter, which I denominate parementine,

consisting of the before-mentioned ingredi-' ents, taken in the proportions substantially as herein set forth.

scribing witnesses.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specificationbefore two sub- EUGENE TORLOTIN. Witnesses:

AUGUST KLIPsTEIN, R0131. M. HOOPER. 

